Comments on: Mastriano Selling a Bill of Goods with His ‘Parental Bill of Rights’ https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/mastriano-selling-a-bill-of-goods-with-his-parental-bill-of-rights/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mastriano-selling-a-bill-of-goods-with-his-parental-bill-of-rights A conservative newspaper about Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Thu, 29 Dec 2022 16:10:39 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Looking Back, Looking Ahead – The Lancaster Patriot https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/mastriano-selling-a-bill-of-goods-with-his-parental-bill-of-rights/#comment-113 Thu, 29 Dec 2022 16:10:39 +0000 https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/?p=3621#comment-113 […] example, my specific critique of Sen. Doug Mastriano voting for a budget with billions of dollars going to a socialistic, godless […]

]]> By: Podcast – Education, Medicine, and Incrementalism (feat. Dr. Greg Wheeler) – The Lancaster Patriot https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/mastriano-selling-a-bill-of-goods-with-his-parental-bill-of-rights/#comment-67 Fri, 04 Nov 2022 17:35:58 +0000 https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/?p=3621#comment-67 […] Mastriano Selling a Bill of Goods with His ‘Parental Bill of Rights’ […]

]]> By: Chris Hume https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/mastriano-selling-a-bill-of-goods-with-his-parental-bill-of-rights/#comment-63 Tue, 01 Nov 2022 12:41:23 +0000 https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/?p=3621#comment-63 In reply to Gregory Wheeler.

You can send an email to info@thelancasterpatriot.com and we can arrange details. Thanks for your willingness.

]]> By: Gregory Wheeler https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/mastriano-selling-a-bill-of-goods-with-his-parental-bill-of-rights/#comment-62 Tue, 01 Nov 2022 04:05:30 +0000 https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/?p=3621#comment-62 In reply to Chris Hume.

I would be happy to speak on your podcast about these matters. Please let me know how I can connect with you. Thanks so much.

]]> By: Chris Hume https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/mastriano-selling-a-bill-of-goods-with-his-parental-bill-of-rights/#comment-61 Sun, 30 Oct 2022 18:05:58 +0000 https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/?p=3621#comment-61 In reply to Gregory Wheeler.

Mr. Wheeler, thank you very much for reading and commenting. I would like to personally invite you to come on The Lancaster Patriot Podcast to address your concerns and discuss the principles behind them.

]]> By: Gregory Wheeler https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/mastriano-selling-a-bill-of-goods-with-his-parental-bill-of-rights/#comment-59 Sun, 30 Oct 2022 06:45:55 +0000 https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/?p=3621#comment-59 It was with great dismay and frankly shock that I read the editorial in the Lancaster Patriot concerning what is undoubtedly a mis-characterization of Mastriano’s underlying philosophy on public education and parental rights. The editorial by Chris Hume “Mastriano Selling a Bill of Goods with His ‘Parental Bill of Rights” succinctly demonstrates the aphorism, “perfect is the enemy of good.” The editorials wildly takes aim at Doug Mastriano’s intentions behind his Senate Bill 996 accusing him of continuing “to approve of the government’s claim to authority in the realm of education.” The editorial scolds Mastriano for voting on a budget bill which included continued funding for public education which was crafted by Democrat Tom Wolf with multiple revisions hammered out by the Senate Appropriations Committee of which Mastriano is not a member. As far as I can tell there is still a huge desire by both secular and Christian families in Pennsylvania to have their children educated in the public school system.
Are we being honest with ourselves when we blame politicians as the driving force behind our current educational system? Is it not parents who really hold the responsibility for the propagation of the government school system when they willingly choose to send their children to these institutions? Do we genuinely believe that our magistrates can abruptly defund the government school system without a serious educational and social crisis? As the editorial so rigidly suggests Mastriano “should take an unwavering and principled stand against all government education.” In that case should Mastriano and his Republican colleagues pass a law to close our public schools starting next year? Didn’t the unilateral closing of our schools during COVID teach us of the absolute foolishness of abruptly halting an institution on which huge swaths of our society currently depend?
How about Mastriano’s pledge as Governor to establish school choice? The editorial claims that “Mastriano’s efforts to reform the government school system seem to amount to little more than arbitrary qualms about a system he continues to endorse.” Yet in stark contrast Brooke Schultz a reporter from the AP reveals the actual effects of Mastriano’s reforms, “During his campaign, Republican Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano has alluded to proposals that would be a transformative overhaul of the state’s more than $30 billion K-12 education system, with public dollars eligible to fund students’ private education.” In particular Mastriano’s program will “propel far-reaching school choice programs by shifting state funds to students rather than schools.” Schultz continues, “Under Mastriano’s plan, state funding dollars would instead go to students, and property tax dollars that typically go toward schools could be eliminated. Property taxes are the dominant source of income for schools, supplying nearly $15 billion in the 2020-21 school year, according to state data.”
The editor once again derides Mastriano’s SB 996 as “useless and would accomplish nothing.” I would contend that either the editor did not understand or just did not bother to determine the need for this bill. Reporter Tom Lehman of WGAL8 explains, “The bill lays out the rights of parents and legal guardians to direct the upbringing, education, and health care of their child. The measure also says the state and political subdivisions – like school districts – can’t infringe upon that. One example raised during the (Senate State Government Committee) hearing was whether school districts should be allowed to conceal a child’s preferred name and gender identity from parents.” Also brought up during Sen. Argall’s public parental testimony was the introduction of pedophilia and pornographic books available to students in school libraries. Right now parents who want this obscene material removed are being stonewalled by school administrators, something that Mastriano believes must come to an end.
The criticism by the editor does not stop there, but he goes on to say about SB 996, “It literally says that parents are not the first and last authority, the state is! Mastriano’s own bill says that the state can infringe on a parent’s right to meet a ‘compelling governmental interest’.” I hate to disrupt the editor’s idealism, but the sinfulness of man requires some vigilance by our governmental institutions. As a long time health care worker in multiple Emergency Departments across the state of Pennsylvania, there are times when it is a compelling governmental interest to intervene when children are endangered or enduring neglect or abuse. This bill indeed provides much needed, timely language reaffirming the parent as the authority on raising their kids. However, it does provide some necessary overwatch by governmental entities to protect the welfare of children in those rare, difficult cases of parental abuse due to the fallen nature of mankind.
Lastly, I would ask the editor to reconsider the nature of human government. There is no perfect government on earth because man is a fallen creature. We can hope for in the best instance leaders with the attributes described in Exodus 18:21, “Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.” Before you lump Christian leaders such as Doug Mastriano in the leaven, recognize that Mastriano is a man who has proven by his actions that he meets God’s standard as outlined in Exodus 18:21 for governing the state of Pennsylvania.

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